As a result of the film, Masot was removed from his position as senior political officer and sent back to Israel. Israeli ambassador Mark Regev was forced to make an apology to the UK government.

A British civil servant who was recorded with Masot plotting “a little scandal” for Duncan was made to resign.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called for a government investigation into the issues raised by the program.

Ofcom ruled on Monday that allegations of anti-Semitism against the program were false.

The regulator said it did not consider that “a critical analysis of the actions of a foreign state constituted anti-Semitism, particularly as the overall focus of the program was to examine whether the State of Israel was acting in a manner that would be expected of other democratic nations.”

Swisher told The Electronic Intifada that the “ruling is a victory not only for Al Jazeera, but for all investigative journalists.”

He said Al Jazeera had scrupulously followed Ofcom rules, and the fact that the complainants “would accuse our broadcast of being anti-Semitic speaks volumes about our accusers. Ironically, in doing so they proved a central argument in our film.”

A statement from Al Jazeera said that the Qatar-based broadcaster feels “vindicated by the rulings and ever more committed to exposing human rights violations by anyone – regardless of geography, religion or the power of their lobbies.”

Swisher added on the Arabic channel that the network had not wanted to put out the program on the Israel lobby in the United States until the British film had been ethically and legally vindicated by Ofcom.

“Now having our names cleared, and having our journalism vindicated, inshallah we will see the investigation [about the Israel lobby] within the United States very soon,” Swisher said.

The Ofcom ruling said that its regulations on impartiality had not been broken by Al Jazeera, since the program included the viewpoints of Masot and others in the Israeli government.

The broadcaster also approached Masot and others who had been secretly filmed to give them an opportunity to issue statements in response, including them on screen when provided.

Public interest

Three individuals linked to Israel lobby groups who had featured in undercover footage in the film also filed complaints with Ofcom.

It concluded the same for the other two, saying that Akehurst’s claim the footage had been “heavily edited” to misrepresent the facts was untrue, that “the editing was very limited” and that “the program was an accurate reflection of what was said.”

Ofcom upheld Al Jazeera’s use of undercover filming, acknowledging that “there was a public interest justification,” and that the privacy of those who complained “was not unwarrantably infringed.”

Jewish Labour Movement director Ella Rose had expressed a wish in the undercover footage for her critics to “die in a hole,” and said she could “take down” anti-Zionist Jewish activist Jackie Walker.

One target of Rose’s ire was this writer, who had earlier revealed in an article for The Electronic Intifada that Rose previously worked at the Israeli embassy.

Rose claimed to Ofcom that her comments were just “boosting my self-esteem.”

Rose can be seen in the undercover footage saying she used to work with Masot in the Israeli embassy.